According to medical terminology, a blood group refers to certain properties inherent in human red blood cells. In humans, these properties can be the same or different. Identification of a person only by certain differences in blood is not possible, however, this helps in cases where it is necessary to detect the relationship of the donor and the recipient, which is a prerequisite for transplantation of various organs.
What are the blood types?
According to the classification, discovered in 1900 by Karl Landsteiner, there are 4 blood groups:
- 1st — has the greatest distribution — about 45% of the world's population;
- 2nd - carriers are 35% of the population;
- 3rd - determined in 13% of people;
- 4th is the rarest, only 8% of people have it.
What is the Rhesus factor and its types?
Rhesus factor is a special antigen (protein) found in red blood cells of human blood. Those people in whom this protein is present have a positive Rh factor. Most of them are about 80-85% of the total population of the planet. Those who do not have this protein are the owners of a negative Rh factor. Coincidence or difference in Rh factors is an important indicator taken into account in the process of blood transfusion.
What is the 4th blood group?
Human blood plasma may contain antibodies such as hemagglutinins α and β, and the surface of red blood cells - antigens A and B, or agglutinogens. Various combinations of hemagglutinins and agglutinogens form one or another blood group.
Blood of the 4th negative group includes both agglutinogen on red blood cells and not a single hemagglutinin. In writing, it is reflected as AB (IV) 0 - from which the presence of A and B antigens and the absence of antibodies (0) are clearly visible.
The 4th negative and positive blood groups are distinguished by the fact that the holders of the negative Rh factor do not have a special protein in red blood cells.
Origin
The blood of the 4th negative group is considered the youngest, since it is only about 1000 years old. In addition, it is also the most mysterious, since the reason for its occurrence is not known for certain. Her education is attributed to the merger of the first and third groups, precisely for this reason she often has signs of one of these groups. Carriers of the 4th negative rhesus blood, according to the estimates of medical workers, are only about 0.4% of the world's population.
Modern science identifies the following versions of the origin of AB blood:
- Mix between races. Here, the opinions of experts about their ancestors differ: some believe that the Caucasian and Mongoloid races are mixed, while others are inclined to believe that the ancestors of the blood carriers AB were the Negroid, Mongoloid and Red race of the Indians of America.
- Theory of viruses. It is less common, however, is the place to be. Its supporters believe that the fourth group was formed in the process of epidemics of viral diseases that raged in the Middle Ages. The emergence of a new blood group was the answer to the "viral storm." The main contradiction of this theory was that the spread of viral diseases around the planet occurred about 500 years ago, and the negative Rhesus 4 of the blood group appeared about 1000 years ago.
- Theory of nutritional change. It states that the change in the composition of the blood was significantly affected by the thermal processing of food, as well as the subsequent introduction of synthetic and semi-synthetic products into food products. However, skeptics have found a weak spot in this theory. They argue that people began to actively give heat to food, people began only from the XVI century, the age of AB blood is much more. In addition, the place of residence of carriers of such blood is most often Southeast Asia, Japan, Australia. And in these countries, preference is given to natural food.
Positive sides AB (0) Rh-
Blood of the 4th negative group has both advantages and disadvantages. The advantages of this blood group include:
- Carriers of the 4th negative Rh factor are universal recipients of donors with any negative blood.
- Those who have AB (0) Rh- have a stable immunity to the negative effects of the external environment.
- In addition, carriers have a strong immunity to any kind of infection.
- Due to the rapid normalization of the level of cortisol (glucocorticoid hormone), an organism with the 4th negative group is characterized by increased endurance.
Disadvantages of AB (0) Rh-
Despite all the advantages, the 4th negative blood group has a number of minuses. These include:
- The main one is the danger that can arise during pregnancy. Women with this blood group must be constantly monitored by a doctor and undergo special therapy. If the child has a positive Rhesus factor and the mother is negative, the maternal organism perceives the child as a foreign hostile body. As a result, the mother’s body begins to produce antibodies that are detrimental to the baby.
- Carriers of AB (0) Rh- are susceptible to diseases of the cardiovascular system, often heart attacks.
- The digestive system (peptic ulcer, colitis), the endocrine system (bronchitis, pneumonia, sinusitis) and the musculoskeletal system (polyarthritis, arthrosis, rheumatism) often suffer from diseases.
- There is little resistance to angina, sinusitis, ENT diseases.
- Holders of the 4th negative group belong to the risk group for oncological diseases.
Despite the fact that there are more minuses, this does not pose a danger, since it is not a person belonging to a particular blood group that leads to diseases, but a person’s lifestyle.
4th negative group in men
Despite the fact that outwardly men with a negative and positive Rh factor of the 4th blood group do not differ, their body has some differences.
In men with blood of 4 negative groups, due to the stability of the nervous system, in general, good health and a high level of endurance are observed. However, they have weaknesses. The reason for this was the features of metabolism. A high probability of becoming the owner of a viral disease is based on the fact that there are no antibodies in the blood to antigens A and B, as a result - a reduced ability of the body to detect harmful viral elements in the external environment.
The 4th negative blood group in men has increased coagulability. The consequence may be the formation of a blood clot, leading to a stroke or heart attack in old age. Low-level immunoglobulin antibodies can lead to ear, gastrointestinal, and respiratory diseases. A high risk of asthma, all sorts of allergies, kidney diseases.
Being in a stressful situation, in men with 4 negative blood groups, catecholamines begin to be produced in excess of the norm. They can lead to the development of depression, manic disorder, and in some cases addiction and alcoholism.
In addition, blood of the 4 negative group causes the production of low levels of acids in the gastric juice, as a result - proteins and fats are poorly processed. This can result in gallstone disease, cancer of the stomach or colon, high cholesterol, coronary artery disease, osteoporosis.
4th negative group in women
For women, this blood type is the main danger during pregnancy.
The presence of a negative Rh factor in a pregnant woman is a serious reason for doctors to start worrying about the baby. The reason for this is a possible Rhesus conflict in the mother with the child. It occurs when the child inherits from the father a positive Rh factor. As a result of its occurrence, various pathologies can develop in the fetus. Despite the seriousness of this situation, modern medicine is able to prevent all the dangers of the consequences of this phenomenon.
The occurrence of a Rhesus conflict appears at a time when blood cells enter the mother’s blood from the baby’s circulatory system. The reaction of the pregnant woman’s immune system is immediate - the baby’s blood is perceived as an enemy element, and the task of the immune system is to fight this “enemy”. As a result of this struggle, the mother’s blood cells actively interact with the baby’s blood cells, which leads to their destruction. As a result, the threat to the health of an unborn child is growing a hundredfold. Rhesus conflict can also lead to premature birth or miscarriage.
Such a reaction of the female body occurs in 10% of pregnancy cases in which the mother has a negative Rh factor. Most often, doctors prevent dangerous consequences, and pathologies in the child do not develop. To date, pregnancy with a negative Rh factor in a mother is not a sentence, but only an occasion to monitor the condition of a woman and her child more closely.
It is to prevent a threat to the child, in the process of registering a pregnant woman, she needs to pass tests that will determine the blood group, as well as the Rh factor.
Inheritance of the 4th negative group by a child
The process of inheritance by a child of 4 negative blood groups consists of two elements: inheritance of the group and Rh factor.
The child will inherit the 4th blood group if:
- Blood type of parents 1st and 4th (50% probability);
- Blood type of parents 2nd and 3rd (probability 25%);
- Blood type of parents 2nd and 4th (probability 25%);
- Blood type of parents 3rd and 4th (probability 25%);
- Blood type of parents 4th and 4th (50% probability).
With a 100% probability, the child will inherit a negative Rh factor if both the father and mother have a negative Rhesus factor. In all other cases, it is 50%.
Donor compatibility AB (0) Rh-
Despite the fact that today doctors are trying to avoid blood transfusion or its constituent components, sometimes this is not possible during the treatment process.
One of the main conditions during the blood transfusion procedure is the compatibility of the blood of the recipient and the donor. In the case of transfusion of incompatible blood to the patient, he may die.
The classic version suggests that perfect compatibility occurs only when the group and rhesus are absolutely identical. However, this rule may sometimes not work out in practice. At times when transfusion is urgent, there is simply no time to determine compatibility. The only option in this case is a blood transfusion, which has a hypothetical compatibility with the patient’s blood.
For a recipient with a 4th blood group, the situation is most favorable, because a person with any blood group can become a donor for such a patient, that is, the 4th group is compatible with everyone else and with herself.
If the owner of blood group 4 is a donor, then he has compatibility only with his group.
With Rh factor compatibility, the situation is simpler: group membership does not matter, only negative blood can be transfused for a person with negative Rhesus, and a patient with positive Rhesus can be a recipient of both a Rh positive and Rh negative donor.
That is, a person with a 4th negative blood group is compatible as a recipient with any other group that has a negative Rh factor. As a donor, the owner of such blood is compatible exclusively with carriers of group 4, the Rh factor does not matter.
Fourth Negative Pregnancy Compatibility
The pregnancy planning process consists of a number of activities that are aimed at optimizing the conditions that affect the conception and birth of a healthy baby. One of the recommendations of doctors is to determine the parents belonging to a particular blood group, as well as to the Rh factor, since it is these indicators that are fundamental in the process of conception of a child.
The following incompatibilities exist:
- A woman with the 1st group, and a man with the 2nd, 3rd or 4th;
- A woman with a 2nd group, and a man with a 3rd or 4th;
- A woman with a 3rd group, and a man with a 2nd or 4th.
Most often, this incompatibility does not bring special complications and does not need additional therapy. The most dangerous situation is when a mother with the 1st group has a child with a 2nd or 3rd.
According to gynecologists, a woman with 4th negative blood is compatible with all men, however, it is desirable that the Rh factor be the same for the parents.